Key Documents

Under protest

Published: Saturday, August 3, 2013 at 6:01 a.m.

Last Modified: Saturday, August 3, 2013 at 11:16 p.m.

If anyone still needed convincing, a state audit report released last week makes it clear that former sheriff Vernon Bourgeois didn't mind spending Terrebonne taxpayers' money on his personal whims.

Last week, Bourgeois repaid the Sheriff's Office about $19,000 for the vacation time he cashed in on before leaving office and other spending that the Louisiana legislative auditor says may have violated state law.

In a line that could have been written for the ridiculous cable TV show "Cajun Justice" that he masterminded, Bourgeois, according to the audit report, agreed to repay the money "under protest," a term that in this case means nothing other than he doesn't like it. It's sort of like paying a traffic fine "under protest." I suspect most judges' reactions might resemble this: "Yeah, whatever."

The audit alleges so many financial misdeeds that anyone who wants the details will have to refer to the stories The Courier and Daily Comet published over the past week. Those who want every unfettered detail can read the complete audit report, released Monday. We posted it online with some of our stories last week, and I'll include it with this column at houmatoday.com and dailycomet.com.

I was hoping Bourgeois might at least try to offer a plausible explanation for his alleged misdeeds, but the audit report contains only vague rebuttals that barely qualify as excuses.

For example, he said another sheriff told him it was OK to take the unused vacation pay, though Bourgeois couldn't recall the person's name.

Bourgeois drove to four out-of-state LSU football games and two Saints games between 2009 and 2011 using $691 of taxpayers' money, the report says. Though he recognized the trips had no business purpose, he told the Legislative Auditor's Office there was "nothing wrong" with using taxpayer money for the game-day gas, claiming "other Louisiana sheriffs did the same."

Bourgeois took a trip to Talladega Superspeedway in October 2011 to provide security for the big NASCAR race, the audit report says. He borrowed a private camper, charged $868 to the Sheriff's Office — the parish's taxpayers — for gas and drove to Alabama. When he arrived, "racetrack management informed him that they no longer required his security services." Though "he intended to reimburse the Terrebonne Parish Sheriff's Office" for the gas, he "never got around to it."

Two actions that cost taxpayers the most, according to the report, are Bourgeois' failure to collect $395,000 in taxes owed by Neil Suard, owner of a local company named Baby Oil, and the former sheriff's use of roughly $350,000 worth of inmate labor to renovate a building now used by a private contractor to house an inmate work-release program. A lot of public good might have been done for the three-quarters-of-a-million dollars in money and in-kind labor that Bourgeois is accused of wasting on those couple of gaffs.

The big question now is whether anyone will prosecute Bourgeois for the eight state laws the audit report says he may have violated. The auditor uses the word "may" because it's not his job to determine whether the law has been broken. That job falls to one or more of these: Terrebonne Parish District Attorney Joe Waitz Jr., Louisiana Attorney General Buddy Caldwell and the state Ethics Board. Last week, Waitz deferred to the attorney general, saying the office was already looking into it. A spokesman for Caldwell's office declined comment when contacted by a Courier and Daily Comet reporter. The Ethics Board routinely refuses to talk about whether it will investigate cases.

Bourgeois hasn't talked with The Courier and Daily Comet in a while, at least since the newspapers began looking into these and other allegations months ago. But at least the public now has his side of the story.

See if his explanations work for you next time you get into trouble with your boss or, heaven forbid, with the law: Somebody told me I could do it, but I can't remember who. Every other (insert your occupation here) in Louisiana does it. I was going to repay that money, but I never got around to it. I know there was no business purpose for spending the company's money, but there's nothing wrong with that, right? Well, if you insist, I'll pay it back, but only under protest.

Courier and Daily Comet Executive Editor Keith Magill can be reached at 857-2201 or keith.magill@houmatoday.com.

<p>If anyone still needed convincing, a state audit report released last week makes it clear that former sheriff Vernon Bourgeois didn't mind spending Terrebonne taxpayers' money on his personal whims.</p><p>Last week, Bourgeois repaid the Sheriff's Office about $19,000 for the vacation time he cashed in on before leaving office and other spending that the Louisiana legislative auditor says may have violated state law.</p><p>In a line that could have been written for the ridiculous cable TV show "Cajun Justice" that he masterminded, Bourgeois, according to the audit report, agreed to repay the money "under protest," a term that in this case means nothing other than he doesn't like it. It's sort of like paying a traffic fine "under protest." I suspect most judges' reactions might resemble this: "Yeah, whatever."</p><p>The audit alleges so many financial misdeeds that anyone who wants the details will have to refer to the stories The Courier and Daily Comet published over the past week. Those who want every unfettered detail can read the complete audit report, released Monday. We posted it online with some of our stories last week, and I'll include it with this column at houmatoday.com and dailycomet.com.</p><p>I was hoping Bourgeois might at least try to offer a plausible explanation for his alleged misdeeds, but the audit report contains only vague rebuttals that barely qualify as excuses.</p><p>For example, he said another sheriff told him it was OK to take the unused vacation pay, though Bourgeois couldn't recall the person's name.</p><p>Bourgeois drove to four out-of-state LSU football games and two Saints games between 2009 and 2011 using $691 of taxpayers' money, the report says. Though he recognized the trips had no business purpose, he told the Legislative Auditor's Office there was "nothing wrong" with using taxpayer money for the game-day gas, claiming "other Louisiana sheriffs did the same."</p><p>Bourgeois took a trip to Talladega Superspeedway in October 2011 to provide security for the big NASCAR race, the audit report says. He borrowed a private camper, charged $868 to the Sheriff's Office — the parish's taxpayers — for gas and drove to Alabama. When he arrived, "racetrack management informed him that they no longer required his security services." Though "he intended to reimburse the Terrebonne Parish Sheriff's Office" for the gas, he "never got around to it."</p><p>Two actions that cost taxpayers the most, according to the report, are Bourgeois' failure to collect $395,000 in taxes owed by Neil Suard, owner of a local company named Baby Oil, and the former sheriff's use of roughly $350,000 worth of inmate labor to renovate a building now used by a private contractor to house an inmate work-release program. A lot of public good might have been done for the three-quarters-of-a-million dollars in money and in-kind labor that Bourgeois is accused of wasting on those couple of gaffs.</p><p>The big question now is whether anyone will prosecute Bourgeois for the eight state laws the audit report says he may have violated. The auditor uses the word "may" because it's not his job to determine whether the law has been broken. That job falls to one or more of these: Terrebonne Parish District Attorney Joe Waitz Jr., Louisiana Attorney General Buddy Caldwell and the state Ethics Board. Last week, Waitz deferred to the attorney general, saying the office was already looking into it. A spokesman for Caldwell's office declined comment when contacted by a Courier and Daily Comet reporter. The Ethics Board routinely refuses to talk about whether it will investigate cases.</p><p>Bourgeois hasn't talked with The Courier and Daily Comet in a while, at least since the newspapers began looking into these and other allegations months ago. But at least the public now has his side of the story.</p><p>See if his explanations work for you next time you get into trouble with your boss or, heaven forbid, with the law: Somebody told me I could do it, but I can't remember who. Every other (insert your occupation here) in Louisiana does it. I was going to repay that money, but I never got around to it. I know there was no business purpose for spending the company's money, but there's nothing wrong with that, right? Well, if you insist, I'll pay it back, but only under protest.</p><p>Courier and Daily Comet Executive Editor Keith Magill can be reached at 857-2201 or keith.magill@houmatoday.com.</p>